Since there's a lot of confusion around this, document both the rules
and the best practice around negotiating, allocating, importing, and
using buffers when crossing context/process/device/subsystem boundaries.
This ties up all of dmabuf, formats and modifiers, and their usage.
Signed-off-by: Daniel Stone <daniels@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
This is just a quick first draft, inspired by:
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/merge_requests/3197#note_1048637
It's not complete or perfect, but I'm off to eat a roast then have a
nice walk in the sun, so figured it'd be better to dash it off rather
than let it rot on my hard drive.
.../gpu/exchanging-pixel-buffers.rst | 285 ++++++++++++++++++
Documentation/gpu/index.rst | 1 +
2 files changed, 286 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/gpu/exchanging-pixel-buffers.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/exchanging-pixel-buffers.rst b/Documentation/gpu/exchanging-pixel-buffers.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..75c4de13d5c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/exchanging-pixel-buffers.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,285 @@
+.. Copyright 2021 Collabora Ltd.
+
+========================
+Exchanging pixel buffers
+========================
+
+As originally designed, the Linux graphics subsystem had extremely limited
+support for sharing pixel-buffer allocations between processes, devices, and
+subsystems. Modern systems require extensive integration between all three
+classes; this document details how applications and kernel subsystems should
+approach this sharing for two-dimensional image data.
+
+It is written with reference to the DRM subsystem for GPU and display devices,
+V4L2 for media devices, and also to Vulkan, EGL and Wayland, for userspace
+support, however any other subsystems should also follow this design and advice.
+
+
+Formats and modifiers
+=====================
+
+Each buffer must have an underlying format. This format describes the data which
+can be stored and loaded for each pixel. Although each subsystem has its own
+format descriptions (e.g. V4L2 and fbdev), the `DRM_FORMAT_*` tokens should be
+reused wherever possible, as they are the standard descriptions used for
+interchange.
+
+Each `DRM_FORMAT_*` token describes the per-pixel data available, in terms of
+the translation between one or more pixels in memory, and the color data
+contained within that memory. The number and type of color channels are
+described: whether they are RGB or YUV, integer or floating-point, the size
+of each channel and their locations within the pixel memory, and the
+relationship between color planes.
+
+For example, `DRM_FORMAT_ARGB8888` describes a format in which each pixel has a
+single 32-bit value in memory. Alpha, red, green, and blue, color channels are
+available at 8-byte precision per channel, ordered respectively from most to
+least significant bits in little-endian storage. As a more complex example,
+`DRM_FORMAT_NV12` describes a format in which luma and chroma YUV samples are
+stored in separate memory planes, where the chroma plane is stored at half the
+resolution in both dimensions (i.e. one U/V chroma sample is stored for each 2x2
+pixel grouping).
+
+Format modifiers describe a translation mechanism between these per-pixel memory
+samples, and the actual memory storage for the buffer. The most straightforward
+modifier is `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR`, describing a scheme in which each pixel has
+contiguous storage beginning at (0,0); each pixel's location in memory will be
+`base + (y * stride) + (x * bpp)`. This is considered the baseline interchange
+format, and most convenient for CPU access.
+
+Modern hardware employs much more sophisticated access mechanisms, typically
+making use of tiled access and possibly also compression. For example, the
+`DRM_FORMAT_MOD_VIVANTE_TILED` modifier describes memory storage where pixels
+are stored in 4x4 blocks arranged in row-major ordering, i.e. the first tile in
+memory stores pixels (0,0) to (3,3) inclusive, and the second tile in memory
+stores pixels (4,0) to (7,3) inclusive.
+
+Some modifiers may modify the number of memory buffers required to store the
+data; for example, the `I915_FORMAT_MOD_Y_TILED_CCS` modifier adds a second
+memory buffer to RGB formats in which it stores data about the status of every
+tile, notably including whether the tile is fully populated with pixel data, or
+can be expanded from a single solid color.
+
+These extended layouts are highly vendor-specific, and even specific to
+particular generations or configurations of devices per-vendor. For this reason,
+support of modifiers must be explicitly enumerated and negotiated by all users
+in order to ensure a compatible and optimal pipeline, as discussed below.
+
+
+Dimensions and size
+===================
+
+Each pixel buffer must be accompanied by logical pixel dimensions. This refers
+to the number of unique samples which can be extracted from, or stored to, the
+underlying memory storage. For example, even though a 1920x1080
+`DRM_FORMAT_NV12` buffer has a luma plane containing 1920x1080 samples for the Y
+component, and 960x540 samples for the U and V components, the overall buffer is
+still described as having dimensions of 1920x1080.
+
+The in-memory storage of a buffer is not guaranteed to begin immediately at the
+base address of the underlying memory, nor is it guaranteed that the memory
+storage is tightly clipped to either dimension.
+
+Each plane must therefore be described with an `offset` in bytes, which will be
+added to the base address of the memory storage before performing any per-pixel
+calculations. This may be used to combine multiple planes into a single pixel
+buffer; for example, `DRM_FORMAT_NV12` may be stored in a single memory buffer
+where the luma plane's storage begins immediately at the start of the buffer
+with an offset of 0, and the chroma plane's storage begins after the offset of
+the luma plane as expressed through its offset.
+
+Each plane must also have a `stride` in bytes, expressing the offset in memory
+between two contiguous scanlines. For example, a `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR` buffer
+with dimensions of 1000x1000 may have been allocated as if it were 1024x1000, in
+order to allow for aligned access patterns. In this case, the buffer will still
+be described with a width of 1000, however the stride will be `1024 * bpp`,
+indicating that there are 24 pixels at the positive extreme of the x axis whose
+values are not significant.
+
+Buffers may also be padded further in the y dimension, simply by allocating a
+larger area than would ordinarily be required. For example, many media decoders
+are not able to natively output buffers of height 1080, but instead require an
+effective height of 1088 pixels. In this case, the buffer continues to be
+described as having a height of 1080, with the memory allocation for each buffer
+being increased to account for the extra padding.
+
+
+Enumeration
+===========
+
+Every user of pixel buffers must be able to enumerate a set of supported formats
+and modifiers, described together. Within KMS, this is achieved with the
+`IN_FORMATS` property on each DRM plane, listing the supported DRM formats, and
+the modifiers supported for each format. In userspace, this is supported through
+the `EGL_EXT_image_dma_buf_import_modifiers` extension entrypoints for EGL, the
+`VK_EXT_image_drm_format_modifier` extension for Vulkan, and the
+`zwp_linux_dmabuf_v1` extension for Wayland.
+
+Each of these interfaces allows users to query a set of supported
+format+modifier combinations.
+
+
+Negotiation
+===========
+
+It is the responsibility of userspace to negotiate an acceptable format+modifier
+combination for its usage. This is performed through a simple intersection of
+lists. For example, if a user wants to use Vulkan to render an image to be
+displayed on a KMS plane, it must:
+ - query KMS for the `IN_FORMATS` property for the given plane
+ - query Vulkan for the supported formats for its physical device
+ - intersect these formats to determine the most appropriate one
+ - for this format, intersect the lists of supported modifiers for both KMS and
+ Vulkan, to obtain a final list of acceptable modifiers for that format
+
+This intersection must be performed for all usages. For example, if the user
+also wishes to encode the image to a video stream, it must query the media API
+it intends to use for encoding for the set of modifiers it supports, and
+additionally intersect against this list.
+
+If the intersection of all lists is an empty list, it is not possible to share
+buffers in this way, and an alternate strategy must be considered (e.g. using
+CPU access routines to copy data between the different uses, with the
+corresponding performance cost).
+
+The resulting modifier list is unsorted; the order is not significant.
+
+
+Allocation
+==========
+
+Once userspace has determined an appropriate format, and corresponding list of
+acceptable modifiers, it must allocate the buffer. As there is no universal
+buffer-allocation interface available at either kernel or userspace level, the
+client makes an arbitrary choice of allocation interface such as Vulkan, GBM, or
+a media API.
+
+Each allocation request must take, at a minimum: the pixel format, a list of
+acceptable modifiers, and the buffer's width and height. Each API may extend
+this set of properties in different ways, such as allowing allocation in more
+than two dimensions, intended usage patterns, etc.
+
+The component which allocates the buffer will make an arbitrary choice of what
+it considers the 'best' modifier within the acceptable list for the requested
+allocation, any padding required, and further properties of the underlying
+memory buffers such as whether they are stored in system or device-specific
+memory, whether or not they are physically contiguous, and their cache mode.
+These properties of the memory buffer are not visible to userspace, however the
+`dma-heaps` API is an effort to address this.
+
+After allocation, the client must query the allocator to determine the actual
+modifier selected for the buffer, as well as the per-plane offset and stride.
+Allocators are not permitted to vary the format in use, to select a modifier not
+provided within the acceptable list, nor to vary the pixel dimensions other than
+the padding expressed through offset, stride, and size.
+
+
+Import
+======
+
+To use a buffer within a different context, device, or subsystem, the user
+passes these parameters (format, modifier, width, height, and per-plane offset
+and stride) to an importing API.
+
+Each memory plane is referred to by a buffer handle, which may be unique or
+duplicated within a buffer. For example, a `DRM_FORMAT_NV12` buffer may have the
+luma and chroma buffers combined into a single memory buffer by use of the
+per-plane offset parameters, or they may be completely separate allocations in
+memory. For this reason, each import and allocation API must provide a separate
+handle for each plane.
+
+Each kernel subsystem has its own types and interfaces for buffer management.
+DRM uses GEM buffer objects (BOs), V4L2 has its own references, etc. These types
+are not portable between contexts, processes, devices, or subsystems.
+
+To address this, `dma-buf` handles are used as the universal interchange for
+buffers. Subsystem-specific operations are used to export native buffer handles
+to a `dma-buf` file descriptor, and to import those file descriptors into a
+native buffer handle. dma-buf file descriptors can be transferred between
+contexts, processes, devices, and subsystems.
+
+For example, a Wayland media player may use V4L2 to decode a video frame into
+a `DRM_FORMAT_NV12` buffer. This will result in two memory planes (luma and
+chroma) being dequeued by the user from V4L2. These planes are then exported to
+one dma-buf file descriptor per plane, these descriptors are then sent along
+with the metadata (format, modifier, width, height, per-plane offset and stride)
+to the Wayland server. The Wayland server will then import these file
+descriptors as an EGLImage for use through EGL/OpenGL (ES), a VkImage for use
+through Vulkan, or a `drm_fb` for use through KMS; each of these import
+operations will take the same metadata and convert the dma-buf file descriptors
+into their native buffer handles.
+
+
+Implicit modifiers
+==================
+
+The concept of modifiers post-dates all of the subsystems mentioned above. As
+such, it has been retrofitted into all of these APIs, and in order to ensure
+backwards compatibility, support is needed for drivers and userspace which do
+not (yet) support modifiers.
+
+As an example, GBM is used to allocate buffers to be shared between EGL for
+rendering and KMS for display. It has two entrypoints for allocating buffers:
+`gbm_bo_create` which only takes the format, width, height, and a usage token,
+and `gbm_bo_create_with_modifiers` which extends this with a list of modifiers.
+
+In the latter case, the allocation is as discussed above, being provided with a
+list of acceptable modifiers that the implementation can choose from (or fail if
+it is not possible to allocate within those constraints). In the former case
+where modifiers are not provided, the GBM implementation must make its own
+choice as to what is likely to be the 'best' layout. Such a choice is entirely
+implementation-specific: some will internally use tiled layouts which are not
+CPU-accessible if the implementation decides that is a good idea through
+whatever heuristic. It is the implementation's responsibility to ensure that
+this choice is appropriate.
+
+To support this case where the layout is not known because there is no awareness
+of modifiers, a special `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID` token has been defined. This
+pseudo-modifier declares that the layout is not known, and that the driver
+should use its own logic to determine what the underlying layout may be.
+
+There are four cases where this token may be used:
+ - during enumeration, an interface may return `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`, either
+ as the sole member of a modifier list to declare that explicit modifiers are
+ not supported, or as part of a larger list to declare that implicit modifiers
+ may be used
+ - during allocation, a user may supply `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID`, either as the
+ sole member of a modifier list (equivalent to not supplying a modifier list
+ at all) to declare that explicit modifiers are not supported and must not be
+ used, or as part of a larger list to declare that an allocation using implicit
+ modifiers is acceptable
+ - in a post-allocation query, an implementation may return
+ `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID` as the modifier of the allocated buffer to declare
+ that the underlying layout is implementation-defined and that an explicit
+ modifier description is not available; per the above rules, this may only be
+ returned when the user has included `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID` as part of the
+ list of acceptable modifiers, or not provided a list
+ - when importing a buffer, the user may supply `DRM_FORMAT_MOD_INVALID` as the
+ buffer modifier (or not supply a modifier) to indicate that the modifier is
+ unknown for whatever reason; this is only acceptable when the buffer has
+ not been allocated with an explicit modifier
+
+It follows from this that a buffer chain must be either fully implicit or fully
+explicit. For example, if a user wishes to allocate a buffer for use between
+GPU, display, and media, but the media API does not support modifiers, then the
+user **must not** allocate the buffer with explicit modifiers and attempt to
+import the buffer into the media API with no modifier, but either perform the
+allocation using implicit modifiers, or allocate the buffer for media use
+separately and copy between the two buffers.
+
+As one exception to the above, allocations may be 'upgraded' from implicit
+to explicit modifiers. For example, if the buffer is allocated with
+`gbm_bo_create` (taking no modifiers), the user may then query the modifier with
+`gbm_bo_get_modifier` and then use this modifier as an explicit modifier token
+if a valid modifier is returned.
+
+When allocating buffers for exchange between different users and modifiers are
+not available, implementations are strongly encouraged to use
+`DRM_FORMAT_MOD_LINEAR` for their allocation, as this is the universal baseline
+for exchange.
+
+Any new users - userspace programs and protocols, kernel subsystems, etc -
+wishing to exchange buffers must offer interoperability through dma-buf file
+descriptors for memory planes, DRM format tokens to describe the format, DRM
+format modifiers to describe the layout in memory, at least width and height for
+dimensions, and at least offset and stride for each memory plane.
diff --git a/Documentation/gpu/index.rst b/Documentation/gpu/index.rst
index b9c1214d8f23..cb12f2654ed7 100644
--- a/Documentation/gpu/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/gpu/index.rst
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Linux GPU Driver Developer's Guide
drm-kms
drm-kms-helpers
drm-uapi
+ exchanging-pixel-buffers
driver-uapi
drm-client
drivers
